Rafal Blechacz

RAFAl BLECHACZ / DEBUSSY, SZYMANOWSKI 4779548

The gifted young Polish pianist Rafal Blechacz . . . demonstrates the range of his powers here . . . He's virtuosic on Debussy's "Pour le Piano", whisking us up and down the keyboard . . . his "Pagodes" is weightlessly evocative. There's an almost existential yearning about Szymanowski's "Prelude & Fugue in C sharp minor", while "Sonata in C minor" is complex and involving.

Record Review /
Andy Gill,
Independent (London) / 17. February 2012

. . . [a] magnificent new CD. . . [Szymanowski: Sonata]: it is a hugely confident work, interpreted by Blechacz in a way that brings out its ripe personal voice and responds to its dramatic breadth of architecture as well as to the powerful momentum of the fugal finale and to the poignant delicacy of the slow movement. The disc is worth having for the Szymanowski alone, but Blechacz's Debussy is also a joy of limpid colour and immaculately weighed articulation, encapsulating the character and imagery of the music with a masterly and imaginative touch.

. . . this pairing of Debussy and Szymanowski confirms Blechacz is much more than a one-trick pianist; he's an artist of imagination and perception, with a fabulous range of keyboard touch and colour . . . His performances of "Pour le Piano" and "Estampes" are brilliantly characterised, with wit and a clarity of articulation . . . The Syzmanowski works are equally revelatory . . . Blechacz manages to channel its great extremes of dynamic and texture into a single entity . . . again the clarity of the playing is exceptional, but so, too, is the intelligence shaping it. It's a remarkable disc.

. . . he reveals himself as a patrician Debussian in the tradition of Cortot, Gieseking and Michelangeli, and an impassioned advocate for the music of . . . Karol Szymanowski. The programme is as expertly planned as it is fabulously played, juxtaposing the French composer's "Pour le piano suite", and its Bachian-titled pieces, Prélude, Sarabande, Toccata, with the Pole's Bach-inspired Prelude and Fugue in C sharp minor. The climatic work is Szymanowski's youthful, ambitious C minor Sonata . . . and it would be hard to imagine a more persuasive or brilliantly played performance. Blechacz's Debussy is little short of miraculous, revelling in the luminous textures and tintinnabulating chinoiserie of "Pagodes" from Estampes, the Lisztian flourishes of "Jardins sous la pluie" and the Gallic sensuality of "La Soirée dans Grenade" and "L'Isle joyeuse". This is an unforgettable disc from one of the pianistic giants of our time.

Record Review /
Hugh Canning,
The Times (London) / 11. March 2012

This is breathtaking . . . There is never any doubt that there is a personality shaping the music . . . [Debussy: Pour le piano]: Blechacz is firmly in control throughout this dazzling and absorbing pianistic discourse. "Pagodes", the opening piece of "Estampes", has atmospherically veiled colours, while Blechacz has no difficulty controlling the weather in an exhilarating "Jardins sous la pluie". All this is captured in sound that is excellent for CD . . . [Szymanowski]: Blechacz is a compelling advocate, by turns introverted an impassioned, building the unresolved climaxes to searing effect. This is exceptional playing. Blechacz paints with the keyboard without sacrificing any clarity.

. . . this finely characterised recital will surely place him centre stage once more. His Debussy is transparent, pure, yet not lacking in depth, driven with impetus and excitement . . . The real finds here [are the two early works by Karol Szymanowski] . . .

. . . a most rewarding, artfully conceived [disc] . . . I love Blechacz's crisp articulation and lightly pedaled bustle in the outer movements of "Pour le piano" (an arresting, impetuous opening to the "Prélude" and wonderful "jeu perlé" in its final page) . . . [Szymanowski: Prelude and Fugue in C sharp minor]: it is an attractive short work and beautifully played . . . fierce emotional engagement with the music . . . superior sound quality . . . [The Szymanowski Sonata] needs a pianist of Blechacz's high profile and stylistic authority to bring it to the forefront . . . full marks to DG for backing its young star . . .

Record Review /
Jeremy Nicholas,
Gramophone (London) / 01. May 2012

This 26-year-old pianist has a musical authority far beyond his years which emerges forcibly in his handling of three works by Debussy (including "L'Isle Joyeuse") and his fellow Pole Szymanowski. The latter's Sonata In C Minor is a remarkable display of shining harmony and modulation.

Record Review /
Paul Callan,
Scottish Sunday Express / 18. May 2012

. . . a compelling new album . . . [Blechacz] seems to be on track to become a genuinely memorable pianist . . . [Szymanowski]: The sonata, a terrific 25-minute piece, was an ear-opening discovery for me and should be better known . . . [Blechacz nails its flamboyant opening Allegro] with ecstatic precision . . . The following Adagio is beautifully quilted with restrained emotion, giving way to a stormy midsection. A light, classically-tinged Minuet proves a surprising buffer to the imposing final movement which, after a foreboding introduction, segues into a virtuosic triple fugue. Blechacz plays it all with an uncanny combination of confidence and abandon. As in his previous Chopin recordings, the music pours out naturally, with unmannered dexterity . . . With clean and fluid articulation, Blechacz doesn't overplay the whole-tone harmonies woven into the suite Pour le piano. Blechacz pounces on the Prelude with uncommon verve . . . Here's the exotic Debussy, flavoring his music with Indonesian gamelan in "Pagodes" and with hints of smoke and castanets in "La Soirée dans Grenade." Refreshingly, this isn't heavily pedaled, overly perfumed Debussy. It's unforced and evocative . . . With this smartly programmed, brilliantly played document of the piano at the opening of the 20th century, Blechacz once again proves he's a musician living up to that awards sweep in Warsaw.

Record Review /
Tom Huizenga,
NPR (Washington) / 26. September 2012

He fully conveys the deep Debussyan poetry of "Pour Le Piano", "Estampes", and "L'Isle Joyeuse" . . . This opens up new intellectual and poetic vistas for an enormously accomplished young pianist.

Record Review /
Jeff Simon,
Buffalo News / 21. October 2012

Rafal Blechacz continues to build his DGG legacy with this recital . . . a selection unusual and audacious at once . . . [Blechacz] reveals a sensitivity to the harmonic and coloristic dynamics in this often elusive composer [Debussy] . . .

. . . gripping accounts, each in its own fashion . . . [Debussy: "Pour le piano"]: Blechacz offers an impeccable rendition of the suite -- an improvisatory, unrestrained, and utterly finished flow in the "Prélude," beautifully voiced chords and gently engaging melodic lines in the "Sarabande," and clarity, flexibility, and propulsiveness in the "Toccata," all combined with superb tonal control . . . [Debussy: "Estampes"]: the first and last pieces sparkle with luminous effects and a wide range of tonal shadings . . . [Debussy: "L'Isle joyeuse"]: He presents an utterly compelling reading: splashy, colorful, and almost violent in its concentrated energy . . . [Szymanowski]: Blechacz steps up as a persuasive proponent. He makes the highly virtuosic and polyphonically complex works darkly passionate, brimming with biting harmonies and boiling intensity.